Improvement in tax-calculatopxs



C. D. CRANE.

Tax Calculator.

No. 38,374. i Patented May 5, 1863.

w'hvassas Ime z i tJNrrien STATES PATEN'r .rricno CALVIN D. CRANE, OF FORT WAYNE, INDIANA.

EMPROVEMENT IN TAX-CALCULATCR Specification forming part of Letter-s Patent No. 38,374, flated May 5,

To a/ZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CALVIN D. ORANE, of Fort Wayne, Allen county, in the State of Tndiana, have invented a lnew and Improved Mode of Calculating TaXes, of Which the following is a specification.

The object of myinvention is to aid auditors and others in making up their duplicates by furnishing them with an easy and expeditious method of ascertainin g the amount chargeable on taXable property for the various purposes for Which taxes are usually levied-such as State, county, school, road, Ste-at any given rate from one to one hundred and fifty cents on the hundred dollars. This, in the ordinary mode, is a very irksome, as well as most tedious, process and liable to much error, Which, as auditors will testify, is most trying to the patience, as it often happens When he supposes he is about to finish his Work, he has the mortification to discover that it will not prove; and, for aught he knows, he may have to go over his whole Work to find the unfortunate errors. By the assistance of my calculator this process is greatly abridged, the auditor having little more to do than to copy the amounts already correctly ascertained, and he need have no misgivings when his Work is concluded that it Will not prove.

The tax-calculator,77 so called, may be described as follows: There is a narrow slip of card-board, A, on which are printed, from top to bottom, by means of a stereotype-pla-te, amounts of taxables a b o, Sto., Which amounts are multiples of one hundred dollars, to, say, ten thousand dollars, on the drawings to twentyeight hundred dollars, as 100, 200, 300, &c. Multiples of one hundred dollars only are printed upon the slip, because it Would be too lengthy and-inconvenient to have all the intermediate amounts. By the term taxables,7 is meant the value of the property taxed. There are also one hundred and fifty slips, on Which are printed, by the same means, the taxes on the said taxables at all percents from one cent to one hundred and fifty cents on the one hundred dollars. The drawings show only the first Six-1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. The rates of taxation or percents at which the eomputations are made are indicated by a large figure or figures at the 'tops of the slips-whether 1 cent, 2 cen ts, 3 cents, &c., on the one hundred dollars. The calculations upon the multiples of one thousand dollars, as 1,000, 2,000, 3,000, &c., are printed in larger figures than the rest, in order that they may be easily distinguished and thus render the work more expeditious. These one hundred and fifty percents are printed on both sides of the slips, but so arranged that the same per cent. Will not be on both sides of the same slip. This is done that there may be two slips with the same rate, as both might be necessary. Were it not for the intermediate am ounts of taxables between one and one hundred dollars the above-described slips would be all that would be necessary. For these a further device is required. Some auditors compute taxes on nineteen intermediate amounts, or on multiples of flve dollars, as 5, 10, 15, &c. Others, deeming the taXes on these amounts too small to justify the labor of computation, compute only on the multiples of twenty-five dollars, which are 25, 50, and 75.' Supposing the first method is adopted, a piece of card-board, B, is used, through Which, from left to right, are cut twenty apertures, (but in the drawings only four,) near the left end of Which, and immediately below, the taxables are printed. This sheet may he called the sheet of intermediates." Several of the slips heretofore named being employed at the same time, to secure them in place and proper relative position, a plain board, O, is used. At the top and bottom of the board, at proper distances, are small serews, not quite driven in, over Which the ends of the slips are put, appropriate apertures being made to receive them. Instead of the screws a eleat, D, screwed down at over the ends of the slips, may be used, as in the drawings. Vhen the above several eontrivances are prepared, as described, they are all the auditor needs. Now, suppose he commences extending the taxes on the duplicate, and that in the first toyvnship are levied on each one hundred dollars the following' taxes, for each of which there is a column in the duplicate: A State tax of twenty cents, County tax of fifteen cents, school tax of ten cents, militia taX of five cents, and a torvnship tax of tWelve cents, making a total on each one hundred dollars of siXty-tyvo cents. The auditor Will select from the one hundred and fifty printed slips the ones at 20, 15, 10, 5, and 12 cents on each one hundred dollars, asindieated by the large fi gures at the top, together \vith the 62-cent slip for a column of totals, andplace all on the board in their order, thus making a series of percents corresponding with the requirements of the duplicate and so arranged that the computations of thetaxes on all the slips will be opposite the proper taxables or amounts th at produced them, which column of ta-xables is placed on the left side. Vhen this is done, all the required calculations on the' multiples of one hundred dollars are supplied and before the auditor. The next thing necessary for the auditor to do is to take the blank sheets for the intermediate amounts, and opposite said amounts place along the spaces with a pencil the computations of taxes on them at the same percents and in the same series as above described for the slips. These computations in some cases are also placed on the other side with a poll tax added, as will be hereinafter described. Vhen these computations are placed on the sheet of intermediates, the auditor is ready to extend the taxes of the township. If the series of percents is the same for the second township as the first the same sheet of intermediates will be used. Should they dift'er somewhat the pencil calculations may be erased and oth er proper ones be placed in their stead. Now, to show clearly the operation of extending the taxes on the duplicate, suppose one man7s property is valued at four thousand one hundred and eighty dollars. This amount is the sum of four thousand one hundred dollars and eighty dollars. By glancing over the column of taxables on the left margin of the board he will find the first amount, 4,100, and opposite on the slips its proper taxes. The second amount, eighty dollars, will be found on the sheet of intermediates, together with its proper taxes, on the space. Then by placing the sheet of intermediates over the slips and board, so that the aperture above the eighty dollars and its computations of taxes is directly over 4,100 and its computations oftaxes, and thus brought respectively into juxtaposition, and so that both may be seen, the taxes on both may be readily added mentally and extended on the duplicate.

In some States there is, for certain purposes, a tax on the persons of male citizens, termed a poll-tax.77 Where such is the case, the computations on the polls are to be placed by the auditor on the sheet of intermediates, as heretofore alluded to, and as follows: Underneath the first aperture, and on the first space, are written in the proper columns the poll-taxes. On the second space are written the sums of the poll-taxes and the taxes on the first intermediate amount, five dollars or twenty-five dollars, as the case maybe. On the third space the sums of the polltaxes and the next intermediate amount, ten dollars or fifty dollars, and-so on. Then,

when the auditor wishes to compute the taxes of an individual who is charged with a poll, he will use the side of the sheet of intermediates on which the computations for it are made. Forinstance, suppose that the example heretofore given had been four thousand one hundred and eighty dollars and a poll. The taxes on the four thousand one hundred dollars would be found on the slips, as before shown, and the sums of taxes on the eighty dollars and the poll would be found on one side of the sheet of intermediates. The computations for the sheet of intermediates, except for polls, will be found in and copied from a small stereotyped pamphlet, which will be furnished each auditor, and in which will be printed the taxes on all the intermediate amount, and at the same percents as the one hundred and fifty slips, the auditor thus having no calculations to make, except a few easy mental ones, hereinbefore described. To keep the sheet of intermediates in a proper position, so that the taxes on it may be parallel With those on the slips, a piece of wood, E, extending the whole length of the board, is fastened to each side, so as to be elevated above it, the sheet beingjust wide enough to extend from one to the other. To keep it from catching on the screws, when moved up and down, the screws at each end of the board are sunk in a groove of sufficient depth to bring them below the surface of the board. If cleats are used, the ends of the board are beveled, and the cleats also, so as to bring the cleats also below the surface. Should an amount of taxables occur on the duplicate that exceeds the greatest on the slip of taxables, the taxes on two or more amounts on the latter, whose sums may exactly equal the former, may be added; or, by multiplying` the taxes on some amount on the slip that may be a factor of the amount on the duplicate by the proper multiplier, the required taxes may be ascertained.

I claim as my invention the permutation method of calculating applied to the calculation of taxes, in the manner described in the specitications, viz:

1. By the printing of the taxes on the multiples of one hundred dollars at each per cent. on a separate slip, so that the several slips may be arranged into any required series of percents.

2. The arranging of the taxes on the intermediate amounts between one and one hundred dollars, including the poll-tax, on a separate sheet, cut With appropriate apertures, so that they may, when necessary, be added to the amounts on the slips.

oALvlN D. CRANE.

Witnesses WM. S. SMITH, WM. M. ORANE. 

